Brussels, 16/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission adopted a communication providing for a roadmap for setting up an internal control framework that is sufficiently effective to convince the European Court of Auditors to issue a positive Statement of Assurance (SOA) on the reliability of the EU budgetary accounts, especially payment appropriations. The Commission recalls that the Court of Auditors cannot issue a positive statement unless it is reasonably certain that transactions up to the stage of each beneficiary are honest regarding the legality and the regularity of payments made by Member States in favour of the final recipient. The European Commissioner for the Administration, Audit and Anti-Fraud action, Siim Kallas, who initiated the communication, will begin discussions with the Council and Parliament in July. He will also take part in the debate to begin in October on the subject of the framework for following up recommendations made by the EP regarding 2003 discharge procedure. The Commission will then study the joint strategy to be adopted.
Also on Wednesday, the Commission adopted its synthesis report for 2004 and the report addressed to the discharge authority on internal audits carried out in 2004. According to the report, the objectives set were reached: -: stepping up a sense of responsibility within the Commission: the synthesis report is backed by solid assurances from the directors general and the heads of service; - arrangements for overseeing and monitoring work are more effective (incorporating the risk management dimension); - and enhancing the Commission's responsibility and capacity for monitoring and follow-up, in particular where budget implementation tasks are delegated to the Member States.